This invention pertains to a sleeve and damper assembly adapted for use in connection with an oil burner to maintain the interior of the assembly at a temperature sufficient to assure automatic ignition of unburned hydrocarbons in a manner to provide complete combustion of the fuel.
Conventional industrial ovens are generally fueled by either oil or gas and sometimes by a combination thereof. In the food preparation industry, in particular in food drying and baking procedures, the use of fuel oil has in the past been found to be unacceptable due to the fact that fuel oil can not be burned in a complete, clean manner. The fuel oil not completely ignited by conventional oil burners generally leaves a residue of particles of unburned oil and hydrocarbons resulting from the incomplete combustion within the oven area. This residue adversely effects food products placed within the oven by imparting an undesirable oily odor or taste to the food products. Such an occurrence is clearly not acceptable in the food industry. As a result, food processors have been forced to rely almost exclusively upon the cleaner burning fuel, natural or manufactured gas.
Recently, reliance upon gas as a fuel has become quite costly and economically dangerous. Prices of natural and manufactured gas have increased dramatically, This results in increased fuel costs which must be borne by the consumer through higher retail prices. More importantly, the problem has been further complicated by recent realizations that natural gas as a resource is becomingly increasingly scarce. This fact has been dramatically illustrated during the past few winters wherein many factories that were designed to employ gas either for heating or for various industrial processes were forced to completely close as a result of their inability to obtain adequate supplies of natural gas. The problem is accentuated by the fact that many homes utilize gas as the primary fuel for house heating purposes. In times of gas shortage, when the competition for available supplies is keen, the heating of houses has natural priority over all industrial and commercial uses of gaseous fuels. In order to prevent complete shut down of bakeries and other food processing establishments in times of gaseous fuel emergency, the shortages have created a real need to design a burner capable of cleanly burning fuel oil in order to permit use of that fuel by the food industry.
The present invention serves to satisfy this need. This is accomplished by providing an environment incorporating continuous supplemental fuel oil burning capability by maintaining a temperature at the burner above that required for the automatic ignition of fuel oil. As a result, the contaminants resulting from incomplete combustion of fuel oil normally associated with conventional burners, can be eliminated to provide a clean oven in which food may be heated and processed without oil contamination.